Medical Science, Doctor of Medical Science

In addition to University Requirements:

• Complete individual plan requirements.

Students may be able to use some courses to meet more than one requirement. Contact your advisor for details.

Purpose Statement

The purpose of the NAU Doctor of Medical Science (DMSc) degree is to provide students with knowledge and competencies to contribute to an equitable, patient-centered, and cost-effective healthcare system. The program focuses on the role of the Physician Assistant (PA) as a critical member of the healthcare team through the study of population health, patient-centered care, health policy, health informatics, and health equity. The program provides students with foundational knowledge in healthcare delivery and payment models and their relationship to healthcare outcomes.

Students will be prepared to systematically address the complex needs of patients, communities, and populations within the healthcare system through the critical analysis of current evidence and case studies, debate and discussion, and practice-based application exercises. Concepts will be supported by online, asynchronous lectures, assigned readings, and discussions with students in the cohort-based model. Students will synthesize program concepts in the culminating project, which requires students to develop or engage in a project specific to health systems science (i.e., informatics, population health, healthcare systems, health equity, etc.).

Graduates will be provided with skills to make them competitive as leaders in healthcare, consulting, and academia. This program will expand the pipeline of highly skilled, doctoral-trained, PAs to serve in diverse settings; improve healthcare systems; and advocate for patients and communities.

Student Learning Outcomes

• Critique the interrelationship between the U.S. healthcare structure, financing and organization, and patient outcomes and apply these findings to new models of healthcare delivery.
• Apply cultural and historical constructs, outcomes data, and state and national policy changes to a comprehensive understanding of the design and delivery of U.S. healthcare.
• Explore frameworks for collecting, analyzing, and using data to inform decisions, facilitate care coordination, and improve health outcomes of populations within and outside the health system.
• Construct evidence-based interventions to address healthcare inequities that apply to all components of the healthcare delivery system.
• Recommend technology-driven, systems solutions to improve the delivery of safe, patient-centered care.
• Communication:
  • Communicate effectively with peers (e.g., discussion boards), faculty (e.g., emails, presentations, projects), and health systems stakeholders (e.g., policy memos) on behalf of patients and communities.
  • Effectively communicate specific challenges in the U.S. healthcare system (e.g., system level, patient level, provider level) and provide recommendations for improvement using evidence-based frameworks unique to the discipline.
• Culminating project:
  • Design a focused and personal plan of independent study for the culminating project.
  • Synthesize concepts in the discipline with the goal to enhance the patient experience, improve the health of the population, reduce costs, and improve the well-being of the healthcare workforce.
  • Analyze and incorporate critical literature as part of the culminating project, applying proper acknowledgments and citations commensurate with a final capstone in the discipline.